Woman accused of attacking son’s heroin supplier

HILLSBORO, Mo. (AP) — A St. Louis-area woman is on trial for assault. The alleged victim: The 22-year-old man she says provided heroin to her son.

Fifty-four-year-old Sherrie Gavan is in court in Jefferson County. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (http://bit.ly/11JYcJ3 ) reports that the case is stirring strong emotions in a county that has been hit hard by the heroin epidemic.

Prosecutors say Gavan attacked Joshua Loyd with a baseball bat in 2011. Loyd pleaded guilty last year to felony marijuana possession and has admitted to using heroin.

Gavan says she had tried everything to get her 19-year-old son off of heroin. She says she found text messages that identified her son’s drug suppliers.

She allegedly went to Loyd’s home and struck him in the elbow with a bat.